Day 18 – Spending Reset
What would happen if we collectively boycotted junk food for one day by simply not buying any? The junk food industry would be impacted negatively. What if that trend continued? The junk-food industry would start drying up due to a lack of demand. How you spend your money supports businesses and industries in this world. Do you know who you are supporting?
Are you for or against the tobacco companies? Are you for or against pharmaceutical companies? Are you for or against farming methods that are cruel to animals? Are you for or against companies that test their products on animals? Are you for or against farming methods that use chemical fertilizers and pesticides? Are you for or against companies that produce toxic waste? Are you for or against sweatshops that employ children to work slave labor in harsh conditions? Are you for or against products that pollute the earth? Are you for or against the sugar industry? And the list could go on and on.
What you buy as a consumer supports the company, its philosophies, its employees, and its products, including any other products that the company may also produce. As an example, if a tobacco company created a subdivision that produced organic apples when you buy their apples you support organics and tobacco. If a pharmaceutical company has a subdivision that produces natural food supplements, you also support the pharmaceutical company and the drugs that they produce by buying those supplements (I am not suggesting that all drugs that pharmaceutical companies produce are harmful, but I do question many of the drugs they do produce as being unnecessary, potentially harmful, or even dangerous).
Many large corporations own many other corporations because it can help them control the market, or they simply invest in profitable businesses. What if a company that produces chemical pesticides bought a chain of health food stores as an investment? Would you shop at those health food stores? Or what if a company that manufactures sugar/caffeine-laced soft drinks bought hundreds of organic farms as an investment? Would you buy the organic foods that these farms produce?
The purpose of this chapter is to heighten your awareness of the simple fact that much of the world is controlled by consumers (people like you and me). Our money overrides all forms of politics and government. Our money is our source of instant influence. Where we
spend our money creates our world. We vote with our dollars. Do you know where every dollar you spend goes and who or what it supports?
If not, I encourage you to take action and become more aware of what you buy and who produces it. Dig into the business behind the brand. Are they ethical? Are they making this a better world? If not, think twice before giving them any of your hard-earned money.
A common practice now is for drug companies to buy up healthy food and supplement companies. It is also common for huge corporations that produce junky soft drinks and junk foods to buy supplement companies. They do this to control both sides of the market but in my eyes, it cheapens the brand they have purchased because now that once ethical brand run by caring people is now run by a board room who are primarily concerned about the bottom line.
Your Assignment for Day 18
Make a list of how you spend your money. If it is a company, list that company. If it is an individual, list that person and their service performed. Once the list is made, look it over and make a note beside each company or individual if they are ethical and worthy of your hard-earned money. Just put YES next to the ethical ones, and NO next to the unethical ones. From here forward make a shift in your spending to ethical companies and individuals. This simple lifelong exercise will make a radical difference in your life, and in the life of the 7-billion humans and the countless other creatures that inhabit the mothership called Earth.
